NAVY: Women on submarines under review

* The Navy secretary says the submarine service could suffer if it continues to be closedto women.

In what could be yet another glimpse into the new Navy, more than 100 female officer candidates are embarking overnight this month on five Trident submarines in the Atlantic Fleet.

They're among 400 midshipmen in a Navy ROTC program that is including women on the two-day sub overnights. Nine women are assigned to the sub crews at a time.

Navy officials say it's not any kind of test, nor is it the first time women have been on subs overnight.

But it's the first time for this training program. And it follows in the wake of June 3 comments by Navy Secretary Richard Danzig suggesting that change could be in store for the policy of not permanently assigning women to submarines.

Speaking to the Naval Submarine League earlier this month, Danzig warned the service runs risks if it ignores the continually increasing role women play in politics and government.

"If the submarine force remains a white male bastion," Danzig said, "it will wind up getting less and less support when it requires resources, when it has troubles."

Obviously, there are difficulties in changing the policy, he said, but he noted there initially were hurdles to allowing women into aviation and surface ship assignments.

Submarines, because of their close confines, and the Navy SEALs are the last programs closed to women.

"You have a brilliant capacity to control risk," Danzig told the retired and active-duty submariners. "Now, do you want to be left behind?"

The five Tridents - USS Kentucky, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Rhode Island and USS West Virginia - all are based at Kings Bay, Ga., and are participating in the summer training program at Norfolk, Va.

The ballistic missile submarines were chosen because they are the Navy's largest and the easiest to adapt for accommodating wo-men overnight, said Lt. Cmdr. Mark McCaffrey, spokesman for Atlantic Fleet's submarine force.

"You can just take one of the nine-man enlisted bunk rooms and designate it female for a couple of days," he said.

It's up to each sub commander to decide how to handle bathroom assignments - one of the five facilities can be set aside for women, or male-female signs can be hung on the door when the rooms are in use.

For several years, the Navy has had procedures in place for accommodating women on submarines for short periods for professional development, he said.

This program allows female midshipmen to take full advantage of the training opportunity, he said.

Several local active-duty submariners and family members declined to talk about the prospect of breaking the male-only tradition.

Navy and Pentagon leaders continue to review the policy and report to Congress, said Lt. Cmdr. Beci Brenton, public affairs officer for the Pacific's Trident fleet at Naval Submarine Base Bangor.

"Comment with regard to a change one way or another is best addressed at the level where the decision would be made, which is not out here on the implementing end," she said.

But some former submariners say human nature just invites problems if the silent service is integrated.

"It's not like a big aircraft carrier where you can separate people out," said Ernest Lopez of Bremerton, who served 24 years in the Navy on both attack and ballistic missile subs.

"Especially on a small fast-attack submarine, you're elbow-to-elbow with everybody else," he said. "It would be shortsighted to say it's never going to happen, but having lived in that environment, I would find it very difficult to foresee how it might work."

A past study included comments from officers and enlisted sailors who said integration would be a mistake. It noted that Tridents would be easiest to adapt to carrying women but pointed out limiting integration to one class of sub would hurt advancement opportunities for women in the sub service.

Attack subs are smaller and require sailors to "hot bunk," meaning as soon as one sailor rises another one takes his bed.

But Tridents are no place for mixed crews, either, said Patrick Loughlin, who served on a Trident at Bangor for several years. He said there's a lot of hazing on subs and noted the average age of the sailors is about 20.

"You are in very close quarters with no privacy under extreme pressure," he said. "You add women to a sub crew, and you've got a bomb waiting to go off.

"If the Navy wants to put women on subs, they should do it as a complete crew," he said. "That would be very hard to get going."

Reach reporter Richard Horn at (360) 415-2673 or at rhorn@thesunlink.com

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